New Details Emerge About Wednesday Night's Security Threat at Hollywood Bowl
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – A bomb threat was responsible for a brief interruption during the Dead & Company concert at the Hollywood Bowl Wednesday night.
The unfounded threat was phoned in during the concert, Los Angeles County Department of Parks And Recreation said in a news release.
At about 10:30 p.m., while the band was playing, the stage suddenly went dark. Crew members appeared to say something to the band, who were taken off stage. According to fans, dogs were then brought onto the stage.
"Middle of the show it's all rocking out and all of a sudden the whole stage just cleared away," said Dead fan Darrin Sawyer.
Concertgoers were in the dark for nearly ten minutes before the band returned. "All clear, kind of," singer Bob Weir told the crowd, and then the music resumed.
"Last night, a performance at the Hollywood Bowl was briefly interrupted while on-site authorities investigated an unfounded bomb threat that was called in during the concert," the county stated in a joint news release with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which manages the Hollywood Bowl.
"Because the safety of our patrons is paramount, we immediately initiated a thorough search of the area that turned up no evidence validating the threat. Hollywood Bowl security always includes onsite law enforcement officers, explosive detection dogs and metal detectors at all entrances to the venue. The concert resumed without further incident."
A spokeswoman told CBS2's Laurie Perez that LAPD and explosive detection dogs cleared the site.
It was not confirmed if authorities had identified a suspect in the threat.
The incident rattled some fans, who were asked to arrive early to tonight's concert because of extra security.
"The threat of terrorism creeped in even in this bastion of peace," said Dead fan Elizabeth Kline.
Dead & Company includes former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir, as well as John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti.